Only a Moron
The first book I ever read cover to cover by myself was The Secret World of Og by Pierre Berton. I was about seven years old and I was kind of proud of myself. I loved the story so much I read it again. And again and again.
And then one day my Mother, who was an avid reader herself, said to me, “Anne, only a moron reads the same book over and over. Read something else.”
It was decades before I was able to read a book a second time without feeling slightly guilty or uncomfortable. Even years later in my university literature classes when it would have been beneficial to read a book twice, I couldn’t do it.
My mother may have been right to push me off of The Secret World of Og, but a gentler nudge would have been appreciated. I forgave her years ago I’m happy to say. Now, if I find a book to be remarkably well written or a complex story, I will flip right back to page one and enjoy it a second time. I may even pick up a copy of Og, just to revisit that old friend.
The moral of this story is don’t listen to your Mother.
Stay safe everyone.
Hi, Anne,
No kidding. Geez. For me it was, “We were only trying to protect you.” From WHAT??? Life? The world? Life IN the world? Mistakes? Spell it out for me. I truly feel my life would’ve been totally different in so many ways if I’d read The Diviners by Margaret Lawrence when I was 16.
My go-to-over-and-over-and-over books were The Ship That Flew by Hilda Lewis, The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (only just now found out both of these were made into movies), and any of the We Were There With… series, like, y’know, there was and still is a world outside of WoodstockeffingOntario. Biggest mistake “they” ever made was teaching me to read. Hah. Talk about a gotcha.
Barbara, Thank you for this — I think everybody has their ‘lines’ or their ‘if onlys’. If you remember my Mother, she wouldn’t have thought twice about making that comment, nor would she have realized it had any effect other than to turn my attention to The Secret Garden. A family favourite. It probably deserved to have been read more than once by me. I would have benefitted.
Glad you had your gotcha.
Anne
It is amazing how one sentence can affect a person’s being!!!
As innocuous as a line seems – I can recall many that have been life changing or altering perspective.
A Gentleman in Moscow worth a second read indeed!!
Harry Potter – read it at least 7 times which included with each child, before each movie and then some –
-too many books to list as worthwhile rereads.
(pardon my poor grammar)
Hello,
Yes, so many books are worth a reread and I can think of some that were not worth one read… another topic I think.
My Mother was a really good reader and made sure we all had a love of books. In her defence, she thought she was doing me a favour.
Thank you for this,
Anne
sorry – did not mean anything bad to your mother by this at all – I just know how many times (I cannot count them all – when I got an aha moment or “oh my goodness” thought – that redirected my world).
In the scheme of life we are all important cogs to someone somewhere – no matter what. A sentence can be powerful = switching someone from plan A to plan B – that is amazing – it helps me to think that maybe I have influenced someone in the positive – at least that is what I tell myself (you don’t have to include this – if you wish – I just did not want to offend your mother) E
No offence taken! She could be a little acerbic at times…
My siblings are chuckling at this I’m sure.
You’ve hit a nerve with this! Funny how an offhand comment can have such a huge effect. I used to tell Ryann that if she didn’t behave in the car I would hit the Eject Button. I was kidding and fully thought she knew that…but later I find out she actually feared being ejected. Similar to our mother threatening us with “if you wanna live long”. I didn’t know what a live-long was but I knew I didn’t want one. As for reading books twice, I do it all the time. Every thirty years…..
Make me laugh. Such simple things to say. ‘Moron’ was one of her favourite words. She thought nothing of using it. I was fifteen years old I’m sure before I caught on to her sarcasm. I have a good chuckle about all this now. I’m sure you and Ryann do to.
Thank you,
A.